Cub Scout gives best minds run for money on Pinewood Derby track

Adult engineers employ expertise, high-tech gear against 10-year-old

The Dispatch Pinewood Derby

In February, The Dispatch asked engineers and designers at Battelle, Edison Welding Institute and the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University to design and build the fastest Pinewood Derby cars they could for two special races. We also invited a 10-year-old Cub Scout to keep them honest. On March 31, the first-ever Dispatch Pinewoodapalooza was held at Battelle. The results will blow your mind.

The mystery of what makes the fastest Pinewood Derby car has puzzled cub scouts and their parents for years. So the Dispatch enlisted the help of local scientists and a cub scout to study what makes the best Pinewood Derby car and then we put the cars to the test.

Every year about this time, millions of Cub Scouts open the same kits, head into basement
workshops and transform these simple materials into sleek cars that compete in Pinewood Derbies.

While some kids concentrate on how their cars look, others focus on their cars’ speed.

The latter might just be tomorrow’s engineers.

That got us thinking: What if today’s engineers could go back in time to their Cub Scout days
and take with them their knowledge of physics. And what if they could use the state-of-the-art
tools in their labs to build their entries?

What started out as a newsroom conversation became real when
The Dispatch asked engineers at Battelle; Edison Welding Institute, a nonprofit developer
of manufacturing technologies; and the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University in
February to create pinewood cars to compete in a special race.

And to make it interesting, we enlisted a 10-year-old Cub Scout.

Along the way, we learned a lot about engineers. Let’s just say the desire to win, well,
inspires them. A lot.

The engineers used lots of computers, special alloys, lasers and even something called “a
high-velocity oxy-fuel thermal spray” to design and build their entries.

“Other than some sanding at the end, this was pretty much machine-done,” David Walters, a
Battelle design engineer, said about one of his team’s cars.

Despite the advanced degrees, huge labs and killer tools, the engineers said they feared that
Cub Scout Kyle Juracich, a member of Pack 128 at Gables Elementary School, would win.

“He’s got all the experience,” said Mark Hornak, an OSU material-science engineering student.

We thought we kept the rules simple.

Each team was asked to make two cars.

The first had to conform to Cub Scout rules, which restrict car length and wheel base and
impose a 5-ounce weight limit.

The second car, however, would compete in a “cheater” category in which there were no size
limits. They simply had to use the wheels and wood in the kits.

That’s when the questions began.

Could you clearly define what “no propulsion system” means? Gravity is the only propulsion
available.

Can we move the axles on the regulation car? No.

What is the track made of, and what are its dimensions? Unknown until the week of the race.

“They’re pretty vague,” Hornak said of the rules.

On race day, March 31, Kyle and the engineers showed off their entries.

Battelle’s cheater car sported a black plastic pickup truck shell that was designed on a
computer and built layer-by-layer in a “fast prototyping” machine that is not sold at any Home
Depot.

Edison used a laser to slice pine into layers that the team glued together to form the body
of its regulation car. Why? Because they could.

The races were held on the Battelle campus. About 70 attended — team members, family and
friends. Two Cub Scout den leaders officiated.

While the regulation car race went smoothly, emotions ran a bit hot during the cheater race
when Edison’s entry, a two-stage vehicle, failed to finish in early heats.

The team asked if it could switch to a backup car, a super-heavy entry the team dubbed the “
hot dog of doom.”

While Ohio State and Battelle did not protest, Kyle’s dad, Jon Juracich, suggested the Edison
team stick with its original entry.

“I’m just trying not to be the too-serious dad who’s freaking out because we’ve got fourth
place,” said Edison team leader Ed Herderick.

With every heat — there were four per race — the teams whooped it up when their cars did well
and offered plenty of excuses when they fell short.

In the end, the Ohio State team took first prize in the regulation race, followed by Kyle,
Edison and Battelle.

Battelle won the cheater race, with Kyle in second, Ohio State third and Edison fourth.

“I think we did pretty good,” Kyle said, clutching a trophy awarded by The Dispatch.

Edison CEO Henry Cialone and Battelle CEO Jeffrey Wadsworth wagered $100 on the races, with
the idea that the winner would pick a charity to get the proceeds.

In the end, each gave $100 to central Ohio’s Simon Kenton Council of the Boy Scouts of
America.